1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a flexible flap assembly configured to be mounted on the exterior of a vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to a flexible flap assembly configured to be mounted behind a wheel of a vehicle, and a kit containing the same.
2. Background
Most states in the United States of America have statutes that mandate the use of mud flaps behind the rearmost wheels of trucks (e.g., behind the rearmost wheels of a trailer of a tractor trailer). These flaps help prevent road debris, snow, and rain from being thrown by the rearmost wheels of the truck, and onto the windshield on a vehicle travelling therebehind. Although, it is quite common for a trailer, which travels many thousands of miles in a short period of time, to eventually lose one or more of its mud flaps. The vibrations inherently present during road travel, which are combined with the degradation of the conventional mud flap material resulting from adverse weather conditions, results in the separation of the conventional mud flap from the truck mounting bracket (e.g., the mud flap material is torn from its bracket and is lost on the side of the road during travel).
Unfortunately, for various reasons, the missing mud flaps on trucks are not always replaced in a timely manner, or in some cases, even at all. In order to replace a conventional mud flap, specific tools are required (e.g., a screwdriver, a wrench, etc.). However, drivers do not always carry the necessary tools with them on the road. Thus, without the necessary tools at hand, the driver must call a service repair truck to replace the missing mud flap. The utilization of a service repair truck is both expensive and time consuming (i.e., the driver has to wait on the side of the road until the service repair truck arrives, which could take an hour or more). Consequently, many truck drivers simply decide to forgo the replacement of the missing mud flap.
Also, in the trucking industry, it is quite common for a driver to pick up a trailer at a first location, transport the trailer to a second, remote location, and then pick up another trailer for transport to a different location. As such, when picking up a new trailer for transport, the driver may suddenly discover that the trailer is missing one or more mud flaps. Although, because a truck driver is often on a strict delivery schedule, he or she may not have time to replace a conventional mud flap. Thus, the driver will decide just to transport the trailer without replacing the missing mud flap, and take the risk that a law enforcement officer will not notice the statutory violation. However, if the missing mud flap is observed by a law enforcement officer, the driver will not only potentially incur the financial consequences of a ticket, he or she will also lose valuable transport time resulting from the traffic stop by the law enforcement officer. Thus, the decision not to replace the missing mud flap on the trailer can have both temporal and financial consequences for the truck driver.
Therefore, what is needed is a flexible flap assembly that can be quickly and easily installed on a vehicle (e.g., a truck) that is missing a mud flap. Moreover, a flexible flap assembly is needed that is capable of being easily installed on a vehicle (e.g., a truck) without the use of any tools. Furthermore, there is a need for a flexible flap assembly kit that contains the flexible flap assembly, a carrying case for facilitating stowage of the flexible flap assembly, and a flap reminder tag for preventing its user from inadvertently leaving the flexible flap assembly on a vehicle (e.g., a trailer) after it has been dropped off at its destination.